Secretaryâ€™s Report

The annual spring meeting of the Executive Committee (EC) of SIOP was held on April 13 at the Hilton in San Francisco after the conference. In attendance were the voting members of the EC as well as most of the incoming, current, and outgoing committee chairs. Brief highlights of the meeting are provided in this report. More detailed meeting minutes are available at the SIOP Web site.

Outgoing President Lois Tetrick thanked all committee chairs for their service during the last year. Kurt Kraiger reviewed the planned change in governance. Information regarding the changes can be currently found on the SIOP Web site. Members will be invited to vote electronically regarding the proposed changes over a 3-week to 1-month period of time.

Several efforts with regard to science advocacy were discussed. Ruth Kanfer and Seth Kaplan organized a science forum on aging and the workforce in March in collaboration with the Federation of Behavioral, Psychological, & Cognitive Sciences. Steve Kozlowski is forming a task force that will focus on developing infrastructure, skills, and mechanisms for science advocacy.

As part of President Gary Latham’s initiative to enhance the international influence and visibility of SIOP, three international guests attended the meeting. They were Franco Fraccaroli, president of the European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology (EAWOP), José M. Peiró, president of Division 1 (Organizational Psychology) of the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP), and Handan Sinangil, president-elect of IAAP, Division 1. Our guests shared a vision for organizational psychology to have global impact.

The new SIOP journal continues to flourish under the editorship of Paul Sackett. All SIOP members are encouraged to offer commentaries to the focal articles, which can be found posted on the SIOP Web site.

The San Francisco conference was a huge success and our second highest attended conference. The new 3-day format and innovations made to the program appear to have been warmly received. The fall consortium will be held in Cincinnati in October and the topic will be coaching.

Discussion was held regarding issuing policy statements. APA has been able to use them effectively to gain visibility. Further discussion on this topic is planned for the September meeting.

Some other highlights of the exciting activities occurring within SIOP include a new online volunteer management system spearheaded by Talya Bauer, work by Doug Reynolds and the Visibility Committee with the firm Marketing General, and enhanced electronic communications being planned by Ted Hayes. Members should also be receiving information regarding the results of the practice survey conducted by Rob Silzer and the Practice Committee.

In closing, I am delighted to have been elected to serve SIOP as secretary. I want to thank Lisa Finkelstein for her fantastic past work as secretary and for her support in helping me transition into this role. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments about the report at tallen@shell.cas.usf.edu.